Her eyes remained partially open the whole journey. The silver in his eyes was distraction enough for her to not notice that they were nearing the bottom soon. The wind ruffled her hair making a few strands escape and land on her face. With his free hand, he pushed the strands away and Eva sealed her eyes close at his touch.
Is this what home feels like?
Her feet met the ground below and she blinked open her eyes. The Underworld was unlike anything she would've anticipated. The black granite walls decorated each inch except the places the lanterns hung from, providing the light they needed to find their way around the vast place.
The ground was rocky, and as Eva's eyes traveled around the area, she spotted molten lava falling from the top of a dark cliff. Her orbs widened in surprise but they didn't have time to waste looking around. Theo took her hand once again, tugging her to go along with wherever he was heading off to.
"Can all Fae's travel here?" she asked, looking up at his face which was now a mask of seriousness and focus.
"Only if they know how to get back up."
"Do you?"
He stopped in his tracks, amused, turning around to raise a brow. "What?"
'Why is he looking at me like that!?'
"Do you know how to get back up—"
"I know what that meant." he looked like a toddler who was corrected just because he didn't understand something. Eva suddenly felt the inexplicable urge to laugh take over.
"Then do you?"
"Of course I do! Why would I take you down here if I didn't?" he questioned, continuing his walk and Eva stuck out her tongue, copying Kai's moves for the first time. It felt good to be able to do that.
Grumpy bastard...
What a great nickname!
Her lips twitched as she continued to walk behind him, Theo being clueless to her making faces behind his back. And like always, she didn't notice how happy she felt right now compared to the previous months.
"Looking for me?" a hoarse voice spoke, and Eva noticed Theo clench his jaw at the sound. The tone was enough for her to realize that they had found the man they had been searching for. Well...
"Nice to finally meet you," Eva spoke, turning around and facing the cell behind her.
The cage he was trapped in was made of a grey-like material she instantly recognized as titanium because of her father's information on random topics. The man she was looking at was... unlike anything she would've ever expected.
She was expecting gruesome limbs and a terrifying face that people would shudder to look at. Instead, he had a perfectly sculptured and proportional face that women would immediately fall in love with. But instead of feeling anything toward the dazzling creature in front of her, she felt more attentive toward the guy standing beside her who was yet to speak anything.
"Evangeline." he mockingly bowed his head and his eyes then traveled to their hands which were still intertwined. His azure orbs glinted malignantly and she felt Theo's grip on her tighten. She squeezed in return to assure him that she was fine but he seemed to have gone completely rigid.
"Theodore." the man drawled, his entire demeanor changing in an instant. Leaning his body against the rods of the cage, he folded his arms and grinned. It made Eva want to punch those perfect white teeth out of his mouth.
"I'm assuming that you know what we are here for," she stated, taking control of the situation since Theo only seemed to be glaring at the man for the moment. Did they have some sort of a feud between them related to the past?
"Ah yes." he purred out and Eva realized what Davina was warning her about. Looking down, her foot had inched forward without her noticing. She slid it back into place, her brown orbs now glimmering with frustration.
She wasn't going to let him play with them for hours.
"Let's get straight to the topic then." his deep voice made her look up in shock. The man who was standing beside her seemed familiar yet a stranger at the same time. He looked like the King who was interrogating Ken when he had arrived to take her back. He appeared like the devil people thought him to be.
The dark orbs were no longer there. Violet shown out of them, silver sparks issuing forthwith and a shiver through her body as one of his long fingers caressed down her arm like the trails of shadow.
This was the man they all feared. But why didn't she feel scared?
"Ah, you're worrying poor Evangeline, Theodore." Moros tutted, shaking his finger at them and Eva noticed his blackened fingernails from the short distance.
"Shut your disgusting mouth up and start talking. You've already sensed that she isn't fully human. What is her lineage?" it was less of a question and more of a command. Eva felt a tremor inside her body at the power that he was excluding from himself. And maybe he didn't mean to let it happen, but feeling his power made the energy thrumming inside her veins want to light up too.
She felt powerful, nothing less than a Queen herself as she stood beside him and glared daggers at the man whose smile was slowly starting to fall.
"I would be honored, Your Majesty. But you of all people know how a deal is made. An eye for an eye or nothing. The door is right around the corner." he shrugged casually, winking in her direction, and in return, Eva scowled.
Theo rolled his broad shoulders back, breathing out and she could see the scalding rage burning behind that calm façade.
"You seem... frustrated." the man taunted and Theo pocked his tongue against his cheek, his free hand clenching into a tight fist. "Don't tell me you're going to show her your true form right now?"
True form? Eva's brows narrowed in confusion and the man seemed to have noticed since he suddenly looked pleased. Okay, so now he was definitely playing with them.
"In the future, demand any favor from me that you desire and I will deliver it to you," Eva spoke and in what seemed like centuries, Theodore looked at her. He gazed at her as if he was looking at her for the first time, as if they weren't standing in the middle of the Underworld with a demonic creature making a deal with them.
He looked at her as if she was his Moon. The only star that he hadn't felt like crushing into pieces. He stared at her like she was the only thing he could see. The only person who actually mattered while they were standing in a hellhole.
Every nerve inside her body lit aflame, each part of her body heating up when he was only innocently holding her hand. Moros looked from him to her and a flicker of realization crossed his hollow eyes.
"Deal." he suddenly spoke, waking them up from their short yet heated reverie. Eva raised a questioning brow.
"How do we know that you aren't going to lie?" If he thought that she was an innocent little lamb that he could fool, he was dead wrong.
She was a Queen.
And she would conquer...